Kappa Alpha Theta Pride...

I cannot believe that it has been three weeks since I got to site! All the over volunteers have said that the days will sometimes be slow but large chunks of time will go fast, they are totally right! I have been really busy, visiting communities, still setting up my house, laying out in the 80 degree weather reading, and washing my clothes (by hand)! It has been really fun going out to the communities because I have met so many people that way. It is awesome because this week I hardly had to buy any food because every time we went to visit people they would give me, corn, limes, oranges, this other kind of fruit you find here, and all other kinds of veggies! It is great! Things are still kind of hard in the loneliness department but now I am starting to like the time I have to myself, I get a lot done, such as reading and cleaning, I know, me cleaning there must be something wrong! I have also really enjoyed cooking for myself! Although I cannot make much right now because of my limited space, I have been doing what I can! It turns out that I really enjoy cooking, it is something that I look forward to doing every night!

So a couple of things that I have noticed/experienced while I have been here in San Martin…

First off, the story that relates to the title of this blog! I was in the community of El Platanar the other day visiting some of the coffee producers and we passed this “construction site” and one of the guys came down to say hello to the guy I was with. When the guy got close enough I realized that the front of his t-shirt said “Kappa Alpha Theta,” I almost lost it but stayed composed but probably looked really weird trying to see the back so that I would know where it was from! You may be wondering how a man in Guatemala got his hands on a Theta t-shirt well, here in Guatemala there are these wonder stores called PACA! They are pretty much like a huge rummage sale (we all know how much I love those, right girls)! They have used American clothes and sometimes you can find real gems, for example, I found a pull over NorthFace fleece for Q 20 ($ 3) in the PACA market in Antigua! You can find almost anything in these stores/markets, including “Kappa Alpha Theta” t-shirts!

My main form of transportation here in San Martin are “jalones” which are just pick-up trucks that people use to take people to and from aldeas, or San Martin and Chimal! They are now, Q1 cheaper than the bus because of the rising gas prices! The other day, being the cheap person that I am, I decided to take one from San Martin to Chimal! I was at the front of the bed of the truck leaning up against the metal bars that they have put up around the bed of the truck! Taking a jalones has its advantages and disadvantages, the advantage being you get to take in the amazing views that you cannot see from the bus but the disadvantage it that many times you come away with some sort of injury! Mine, which resulted from bumping up against the metal bars was a huge BLACK bruise on the side of my hip, gotta love the fun times!

Chimal, which is short for Chimaltenango, the capital city of my department! Chimal is hard to describe because it is one of the dirtiest, polluted, disgusting city ever, but then it has this nice mall with a food court, a Gap, and a movie theater! It is amazing that you can go from communities that little to being able to find almost anything “normal” you want in Chimal! It blows my mind!

Well, that is about all for now! Nothing to exciting but you know life in San Martin is not all the exciting, wink!

I am here, San Martin Jilotepeque! I am in my first “apartment” really it is only two rooms with a bathroom. I moved in on Sunday, but moved in really isn’t the word since I didn’t have anything but clothes! I had to hit up the market for everything, plates, bowls, forks, food, a stove, etc.! I had to buy purified water which to buy your first one is expensive! I know that I probably got a “gringo” price for a lot of my things but when you don’t have anything you are willing to buy it at any price (supply and demand at its finest)!! Sunday night since I did not have any gas for my stove so I went to eat at a restaurant owned by another American! He married his wife and moved here and started this awesome restaurant/ homemade movie theater, where he shows whatever movies you want with a projector and a big screen, kinda like drive in theaters but no cars!

Everything went really smoothly moving in and all, expect for finding gas! It took me two days to finally get some. On Sunday I went to the electronic store to buy my stove and the guy there was really nice but I thought he was ripping me off by offering me the stove, the connector, the tube and the gas for Q 600 ($85), so I only bought the stove, the connector and the tube (Q395). Come to find out, it is expensive to buy your first cylinder of gas (Q 325) so I went back to the store to see if I could buy the gas for the extra Q 200. At first the guys were like no, sorry it will be Q 275! Of course me being me was not going to have that, if I could have bought it on Sunday for Q 200 more then I should be able to buy it now for that price! Well after a few minutes arguing and a call to the manager, they were going to sell it to me for Q 200! Victory for me and my Spanish! Well then they tried to give a cyclinder that only had like 5 lbs of gas (it holds 25 lbs.) and of course I was like, I don’t think so! I will not pay for this! So then I think they decided they did not want to deal with me any more and they gave me one that was significantly heavier although still not completely full, but hey I got a bargain!

My first day of work was yesterday (Monday)! Things went a lot better than they did on my site visit a week earlier! They had cleaned out an office for me and gave me a computer (like the first one my family owned when I was 11), but it works! They gave me a bunch of cost of productions that they had done with the farmers and told me to put them into Excel. At first I was thinking, I am not a secretary, but then as I went through and realized that the farmers did not really get what a cost of production was and that many of them were losing money, I realized my first job, to teach them about cost of production, to make sure they can all do it and to help them achieve a profit! I am a person who jumps to conclusions right away but my Peace Corps experience has been teaching that everything really does work out and that you have to just with whatever comes your way!

I went out to lunch with my two counterparts and a technico from San Joes Poaquil (where our other office is)! We went to a great comeador, carne asada (yummy) and I had a smoothie! Well instead of having a smoothie the men opted to split a liter of beer or so I thought! In the end, lunch ended up being 2 hours and 15 minutes long containing four carne asadas, one smoothie and four liters of beer (between three “Guatemalan” men, think shorter than me)! Let’s just say it was an interesting afternoon at the office, my counterparts were acting like “bolos” (A bolo is a drunk, normally sleeping on the sidewalk or somewhere in public)!
So I cannot believe that it is Thanksgiving already! I actually get to spend Thanksgiving with about 20 other volunteers in Guatemala City at the Ambassador’s house! I am pretty excited because I am sure it will be great food and I think since it is such an outrageous thing that it will make me miss my family a lot less (kind of tearing up just thinking about not being there)! We get to swim in the heated pool and play tennis if we want, kinda cool (actually I think it is really cool)! On that note, again I wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

What did I get myself into?!

The last week has been incredible busy! I had counterpart day, which is were all of our counterparts come and we have two days of workshops! It was actually really fun, I really liked my counterpart, Nazario! Then we actually went to our site for four days, whole other experience. My other counterpart is only a year older than me and is very serious and is a non-game playing kind of guy (totally opposite of me)! I will be working in an office of ten men (in the States I know that would deserve a Holla but here not so much)! It is actually intimidating because they are all trained in coffee production and then there is me, the white girl in the corner with her broken Spanish trying to give suggestions, talk about feeling out of place, wooo, wake up call for me!

Another aspect of my site visit was to find a place to live, which I did! I am really excited my very first apartment (if you can call it that)! I am going to be living on the second level of a family’s compound! I have a front porch, two rooms, a private bath, my own pila and a large back patio for drying my clothes and a tire garden! I am really excited about being on my own but at the same time I am terrified! Also I am the only one in my site! There are three other volunteers in the aldeas of my site but they only have transport two days a week so I will not see them all that much! I really experienced loneliness for the first time this past week! In three days it is going to be me, Spanish and a town full of Guatemalans! It really hit me that I am either going to be talking Spanish or not talking at all, and for all of you that know me well, the not talking part is probably not an option so my Spanish should really come along!

So I am going to let everyone know that I am scared SHITLESS (I know I said I would not cuss on this blog but no other words can describe this feeling)! I am so scared about my work, my counterpart, my site, being alone, knowing no one, having no friends, only speaking in Spanish and living on my own! I have never been so scared of anything in my entire life! Normally I am scared but know I will get through it but not now! In this situation there is nothing that I feel comfortable about and there is no one there to lean on, AHHH! I just wanted to let you all know that as happy as I am and as much fun as I am having here, I am also SCARED out of my mind! Mommy, Daddy….

I have a couple of funny stories…

Number one actually happened today while I was in Antigua with two of my guy friends! We were walking along and we happened upon a group of 6 men trying to unload a “tuk tuk” (a mini cab like thing)! Being the nice guys that my friends are they offered to help unload this “tuk tuk” from the truck! I thought it was the most hysterical thing that I might have experienced here! I could not resist taking pictures so here they are…

Number two: Some volunteers stumbled upon this dive bar in Antigua who always has really cheap deals on beer! With our limited income (Q26.00/ day durning training, which is equal to $3.75/day) we were totally excited and have become frequent (once a week) customers! We had an afternoon free this week and decided to grab a cold beer. When we got there they were having a special, two beers for Q8 which when you change that to dollars, we were drinking $0.53 beers! I just thought that some people back home, aka my friends and brother, would find that amusing!
I cannot believe it is almost Thanksgiving, WOW! If I do not get to post again before then I want to wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I will be thinking about all of you and safe travels to all! And to my family I love you and miss you (P.S. Eat a lot for me and make sure to do a lot of shopping on Friday for me!)

My Site!!

I found out my site this week…I am going to be living in San Martín Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango! It is about a hour and a half from where I am now, located in the middle of the mountains, which are beautiful! I will be working with an organization called SID (Strategies for International Development), a US run NGO that works with farmers to help them organize so that they can sell and export for higher prices. I will be working in about five or six different aldeas (smaller communities around the municipal)! I am really excited because I think that I will learn a lot, from Spanish to legalizing here in Guatemala! I also get to learn Kaqchikel, one of the 22 Mayan languages here! I don’t know much more about it right now except that it is a new site for a marketing volunteer and that it is a new SID office! I meet my counterpart on Tuesday and leave for a five day site visit on Wednesday! I am just really excited to get started now that I know where I am going!

This has been a busy week, received our sites, had a final presentation and it was Dia de Muertes/Todos Santos! So Thursday the marketing gang headed to Santa Maria (three other trainees live there) for the kites! The Guatemalans believe that flying the kites allows them to be closer to the deceased! Families build these huge kites, 8-12 feet in diameter and then they go to the cemetery to fly them! We walked to Santiago to see the biggest ones in the area, it was INCREDIBLE! I cannot believe that they had kites that big hundreds of feet in the air! They are not just the diamond shaped kites these are octagon shaped kites with elaborate designs on them, seriously I cannot even begin to describe them! They also build four huge kites for different things within the community; these do not fly because they are like 50 feet high…and the same across! They are also elaborately designed with the history of Santiago and the Mayan traditions of the day!

When I got home I had the chance to go with my family to the cemetery to decorate their family graves! It is one of the most beautiful celebrations I have ever seen! Everyone brings flowers and wreaths to the graves of their deceased family members and it is a time to remember the family members and what their life stood for and who they were! They are so open about death…they still see it as a sad time but at the same time they see it as a happy time! My mom was asking me if we had the same holiday in the States and I was telling here that it would not be ok for kids to be running around flying kites in a cemetery in the States, the cemetery is sort of a different place for us! Then she continued to ask why do we not have a day to remember our family members didn’t we love them! I had no response for this statement, except that we remember in our own way! She also asked if we were scared of death in the States…I told her there was somewhat of a fear surrounding death but it was more of a personal thing! She then proceeded to tell me that I did not need to be scared of death because life is just a period of time before we began our everlasting life in the true Kingdom! I am blown away everyday by the my family’s faith…they believe that everything that happens in a good thing because God allowed it to happen therefore there is a higher meaning that we don’t know about! I am continually overwhelmed by their strength!

Well I swear-in in two weeks…I cannot wait! I will be officially living in my site on November 18th! I cannot wait to find my own house and set it all up so that I can start having visitors (come visit, flights are relatively cheap)! I have to say that if two years go as fast as the last two months, I am going to be home before you and I know it!

Random...

*** Note to readers...this was written very quickly so please excuse all the mistakes!!!

Hey everyone…this update is not really about anything! What an opening sentence makes you really want to read right?!

First off I want to thank my mother, brother and grandma for being faithful scribes, they have made me the envy of my technical training group! I get letters, packages or cards every week without fail! Also a big thanks to my best friend Juliane for an awesome care package, love ya!

I have gotten a lot of emails asking me what I need/want so since you asked….
Target Brand raisins and fruit snacks
Trail Mix
Sticky tabs to mark my tech book (cannot find any here)
Pens
Reeses/Baby Ruths are always good (candy bars are expensive)
Books, any kind are welcome ( I have read six books since I got here)
Little Peanut Butter packs (hard to come by here)
A travel size Febreeze and Downy De-wrinkler
Surprises are always welcome

I know some of this stuff sounds superficial and stupid but when you are feeling down or sorta homesick, these things make all the difference!

Now that I got ME out of the way, I do have a few more observations! First off, the women here are unbelievable! They work so much harder than any other people I have every met in my life! They will hike up our mountain, like an hour, and not an easy hike for fire wood, food, etc, and carry up to 50 lbs or more on their heads back down the mountain! They never stop, no matter what age they are! For example, my 83 year old grandmother still chops her wood every morning! At first I didn’t realize that she was actually the one doing the chopping, so one Saturday morning, I asked her to show me how to chop wood, her response was this (translated) “I don’t think that you can do it…young people can’t do anything these days!” I mean I knew we were a lazy generation but to be told by this 83 year old woman who was chopping wood that I could not do it was a shock! I wish I was better with words so that I could explain better the women of Guatemala, I guess the best words I can find in the thesaurus is astonishing, astounding and remarkable!

Today, Monday October 22, the US Ambassador to Guatemala came and spoke to us! It was nice to see the stance that the US has here in Guatemala but at the same time I was thinking the Peace Corps goals are the total opposite. He made some very good points and has some great ideas about how to help Guatemala develop! I also like him because he bought us all pizza for lunch and let me tell you, pizza has never tasted so good!

Well three weeks and three days until I officially swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer! We are having our swearing-in service at the Ambassador’s residence in Guatemala City! It should be a good time, the exciting part is that our host families are invited which should be a nice treat for them! I have grown quite attached to my host family, mainly my mom! She is awesome! She is so cute, whenever I leave the house she always tells me to be careful, to watch my money and to call if I am going to be late! I know that I always complained about my parents nagging about stuff like that but now it is kind of comforting knowing that there is someone here looking out for me!!

You just might get what you wish for...

Well, I just got back from our Field Based Training in Coban, Alta Verapaz! It was an experience let me tell you! We went to visit Chirrepeca Tea Co-op, one of the five people in my group will be sent there for the two year assignment, hope it is not me! I learned one very important lesson about the Peace Corps experience...never hope for anything, just hope you have a roof over your head and food! So before we got to Coban I told everyone that I just did not want fleas in my bed, I just didn’t think that I could do that again! Well I got my wish, I didn’t have fleas because I did not have a mattress, I slept on a wooden bed with a wicker like mat (check my blog for pics)! To get to the house with a mattress I had to hike 5-7 minutes through a tea/corn/ banana field to get to the house, which turned out to be pretty nice because it was build like 6 months ago and the just got electricity about three years ago! While they were showing me the house, we were walking to get to the kitchen and we walked through a room which had my bed and they were like here we go, that is when I realized that I should have hoped to have fleas just so I could have had a mattress! Now that I am back in Magdalena I feel like I am at the Ritz Carleton! I do not have to poop in a hole and throw some water in and I do not have to shower with the chickens.

Coban is a very beautiful city, along with the surrounding areas. The tea co-op as rustic as it was, was wonderful! I got to experience nature at its finest, the silence of the night, the stars and true natural beauty that was intended for this earth! I know that I probably sound super corny but it seriously was one of the most relaxing and soothing places I have ever been! You knew that you were by yourself, that there was nothing interfering with everything around you, it actually gave me time to think, which is something that I have been doing more often, Mom and Dad you can pick your jaws up off the floor, its true!

So the week at the Tea Co-op was an eye opening experience and now I understand why they wait to give us that experience! They put us up in nice towns and nice homes for training because it really is culture shock when you get out there into some of the small communities that we will be living in! If they would have dropped me off in that situation six weeks ago I don’t know how I would have re-acted, it would have been hard! It is just amazing how there can people Guatemala City and the 50 mile radius around it and then there can be places like the Tea Co-op, it is just amazing they exist in the same country!

While we were in Coban we got to give a charla to a women weaving group in Que’chi, which is one of the indigenous languages of Guatemala. We had to give it in Spanish and use a translator! It was amazing that some women could not speak Spanish, they only spoke Que’chi. Then there were some, mostly younger that spoke both! I was talking to the family I was staying with and they said that the first language is Que’chi then you begin to learn Spanish when you begin to go to school! Que’chi is a very throaty language and there are no words with three syllables, which is why they have a difficult time with Mackenzie! I am really excited to see if I will get to learn an indigenous language, I think it would be really cool!

Well that is about it for now, nothing to exciting has really happened here, same ole same ole!

Till next time...

Just another day...

Sorry this is a really quick entry, bare with me on the explanations and spelling…

This week has been full of activity. I gave my first charla, which is like a mini talk/lesson on the channels of commercialization. There were about 15 women there plus the other trainees and my trainer. It went ok, the activity turned out really well because they really understood that they could make more money through selling directly to the stores than to middlemen which was the point so props to that! The best part was in the middle of my talk there was a woman there with a baby and he was hungry so she just took him off her back and whipped out her boob and stared breast feeding right there in the middle of the room in the middle of my charla. I mean it definitely not the first time that I have seen women just whip it out but I was kind of taken back that it was in the middle of my charla….that’s life I guess!

Saturday we went on another hike but this time we made it all the way to the top which is about 10,000 ft above sea level. We were up in the clouds, it was surreal! We could see the clouds below us moving and forming and you could smell the freshness of the air, it was so clear and crisp. At the top there is a really cool set up that was done by another Peace Corps training group. There are benches, swings, and a slide for the kids and some picnic areas too!

Saturday night we had our first real night out in Antigua. We went and had a great dinner for Q15 (about $2), then hit up some of the Happy Hours before going to this great bar that had dancing! Although I only danced a little it was fun being in that kind of environment again, the loud, somewhat packed bar where everyone is having a good time! It was so fun too because it was all Guatemalan and not over run with Americans. It was awesome to see some Guatemalans kick back, drink and dance (a very rare thing here)! We didn’t get home until 11:30, I felt so bad though because I was later than I expected and I felt like I was seventeen again and sneaking back into the house!

Today I am off to Coban in the state of Alta Verapaz for FBT (Field Based Training). We will be there for a week; working with a women’s weaving group, a tea co-op and another coffee group. It should been a fun and interesting trip. We have to give two more charlas, which sucks, but we also get to have a night out in Coban and on the way home we are going to some hot springs which will be a wonderful! When we get back I will only have 15 more days until I found out my site for the next two years, YAY!

I miss everyone and I am trying my hardest to email as much as I can but the internet is a rare thing here, or it cost me Q6/hour which is about one-third of what I make in a day! I am going to try to figure out a regular schedule once I get to my site and get settled in! Thank you to all who have sent cards, packages, emails and facebook messages, you do not know how much it means to me!